depression comix #319

This strip goes back to a character who has problems having her illness being taken seriously because her appearance does not fit the part. I didn’t come out and say it as direct as I should last time, but it needs to be said. If you don’t fit the stereotype of a depressed person, you are often overlooked. And with depression being a primarily mental illness rather than one with obvious physical manifestations, people tend to look for physicality in things that actually don’t matter, for example, taking care of one’s personal appearance or one’s “success” in life.

This strip was a bit difficult for readers as I think there’s a lot for readers to figure out on their own. Not showing her actually changing made it challenging for readers to understand what she was doing in the washroom, and I’m sure there were readers who thought the woman in panels 1 and 2 were different people. Perhaps 4 panels aren’t enough to get the idea across. But it did start conversation and I even got a “fuck you” because showing high-functioning depression sufferers can be offensive to low-functioning depression sufferers (ironically, the point of the comic was that sufferers often get their illness dismissed if they appear to be high-functioning).